First Grainfather brew

[Twostage]

So, bottling/kegging day today. Gravity has stabilised at 1.016, which is pretty close to recipe. I'm going for 3x mini kegs and 10x 500ml bottles. Milton fluid and oven for the bottles, just Milton for the kegs.

There is still quite a lot of floating debris in the FV. I've taken the majority of the krausen off this morning - it was about 2cm thick, very rubbery, and broke up a bit so probably haven't helped myself!! Wondering whether to run it through a coffee filter to take the big pieces out as it goes through the funnel into the keg.....any advice appreciated.

I bought a stainless steel GF FV, which has so far been great - but the tap on it isn't conducive to bottling!! I'm going to move the last 5L from there into another FV which has a bottling wand attachment. I guess it's a balance between oxidising the beer and making a huge mess!!!

I don't know what particular GF looks like but if it has a tap can't you stick a syphon tube onto/into it ?

I wouldn't have bothered with messing about with the stuff on the top, I would have assumed it would have stayed at the top whilst it drained. You can see the situation though, not me.

Interested to see how it turns out.

 

[Granarian]

Yeah, it has a tap but the bottom is quite wide so you can't get a syphon on. Turned out fine in the end. Ten bottles and three legs, bang on the length aimed for. I strained it through a fine sieve but is still a little cloudy. Aiming to leave for three weeks at least now, so hopefully it will settle.

 

[Granarian]

So, I know it's crazy early to be opening bottles four days after bottling, but thought I would see how the beer gets on as it conditions.

The beer tastes fine, although there isn't much aroma. Absolutely no head at this stage, although some gas out of the bottle on opening. I'm guessing there will be more as the secondary fermentation goes on.

Quite pleased that the beer has cleared completely though (despite the bad photo trying to show it!)

 

[Granarian]

The bottles ended up tasting quite nice - just tapped my first mini keg tonight.....and not so good. Massive head - I mean MASSIVE, creamy full glass of foam. It subsided reasonably quickly but the brew is really cloudy and doesn't taste great. Going to leave it for a couple of days to see if moving it from the garage disturbed the sediment, but otherwise think I'll have to abandon it and try one of the other two kegs. If they're all bad....not sure what to do! I just bought six and a tap!! Maybe not my best investment ever, and a brewery on the horizon in a couple of weeks. :-?

 

[Fil]

with mini kegs they need to sit at least 24hours after moving, then the first draw will be dirty with the yeast sat under and around the tap dip tube, so only draw off an inch or so in a glass off and discard it before you start the pour.

chilling the keg will allow more condition to be retained in the beer when poured.

 

[MyQul]

Wot Fil said. I also think you need to chill the keg for a few hours before tapping it so you don't get loads of foam. I've never actually broached a mini keg without chilling it first so don't know whether this is 100% certain but I always chill mine in the fridge before tucking into them

 

[Slid]

IMPORTANT.
I've just noticed from the pics you put the counterflow wort out pipe back into the GF.
You should put the pipe into your FV and regulate the cold water flow so that you get wort at around 23 C going into the FV or whatever temperature your yeast suggests. Wort goes to the FV in about 10 minutes and at perfect yeast pitching temperature. I get a lot of trub at the bottom of the FV because of the cold crash but it has never effected the taste of the finished beer.

That is interesting, Wardy. The instructions seem to suggest that you only start pumping into the FV once the whole wort is down to 23C (or whatever). This takes basically an hour in my experience. Is it really feasible to cut this step out and just go straight to FV?

 

[Granarian]

That is interesting, Wardy. The instructions seem to suggest that you only start pumping into the FV once the whole wort is down to 23C (or whatever). This takes basically an hour in my experience. Is it really feasible to cut this step out and just go straight to FV?

Yes, you don't have to wait until the whole lot is cool. You run it through the chiller until the wort out is at the right temperature (which takes around a minute) then can pump straight into the FV. I even have to turn down the wort flow as my outdoor water supply is really cold at this time of year and would cool it to about 14C!

 

[Slid]

Yes, you don't have to wait until the whole lot is cool. You run it through the chiller until the wort out is at the right temperature (which takes around a minute) then can pump straight into the FV. I even have to turn down the wort flow as my outdoor water supply is really cold at this time of year and would cool it to about 14C!

That is very useful information. Many thanks for this.

I have noticed that the first few minutes get the biggest effect.

This could get me back many minutes of my life! :thumb:

 

[jayjt29]

So, I know it's crazy early to be opening bottles four days after bottling, but thought I would see how the beer gets on as it conditions.

The beer tastes fine, although there isn't much aroma. Absolutely no head at this stage, although some gas out of the bottle on opening. I'm guessing there will be more as the secondary fermentation goes on.

Quite pleased that the beer has cleared completely though (despite the bad photo trying to show it!)

4 days in the bottle, that's gotta be a record surly! Ive done one brew with the GF so far and have my next planned on Wednesday morning :) I love it! Good write up to mate
Jay